Publishing as business
Hello everyone, I'm in the bush this week and I hope I'm happily snapping photos while you read this.
If you're new here, welcome!
I've been prompted by a few people to write a little bit about photobooks and money. I want to preface this by saying that there's SO MUCH I could write about this topic, and I won't cover it all. In fact, a workshop I'm running focuses several hours on this topic, so it'd be impossible to condense that into a neat, easy email (only 2 spots left at time of writing ;) )
I've recently been asking a lot of people for their experience with publishing and money. For context, I've published a few books - from my own zines, to handmade books, to a huge run with The Killing Sink and, of course, I own and operate a publishing business - Tall Poppy Press. I'm about as in this world as you can get, and yet, it's tremendously opaque. Regularly, artists are asked to contribute money, but when, how much and for what is really tricky to nail down.
It's worth starting by saying that a lot of people think it's impossible to make money from publishing. Certainly, if someone's aim is to become a full time book maker I'd say that's a very, very tough journey. However, there's certainly no reason that a project has to be unprofitable, even if it's not paying your bills and wage for years.
It's also worth acknowledging that not every project needs to aim to make money. Some projects, explicitly, involve giving out copies for free, or making things super cheap for audiences. Or just making something to learn. In these cases, profitability is not important, and that's ok.
Still, for most of us, pissing money away isn't great, and maybe we can learn a bit more by looking at the costs and profits.
Before we look at some further examples, it's worth noting that the main cost involved in producing a book is printing. Other costs might include design (eg, paying a graphic designer) and distribution costs (though these shouldn't be high).
However, let's look at a few examples and discuss some of the monetary complexities.
An artist self-publishes a book.
This is a really common way artists to publish. The costs for doing this are incredibly variable (moreso than working with an established publisher). Largely, I think, this is because artists do not understand printing, so they get one or two quotes and don't interrogate WHY the quote is the way it is. In printing, changing paper, or size, or removing one premium option can often drastically affect the cost. I've had several people share that their self-published book cost, per unit, $50-$80 to print. That's astronomical, that's unprofitable.
I've self published three books. One I printed at home and hand bound, sold for $15. It sold out and it cost about $100 to make, so I made $50. For the hours worked that's just a joke. An artist who got in touch spent $2500 to publish an edition of 50.
Self publishing is tricky because the costs varied so much. Some folks got books printed for $7 a copy, others for $75. That's an astronomical difference.
What is clear is that self publishing is great when someone has a decently sized audience. One photographer quite active on youtube got in touch, he printed 1250 copies and sold out within a month. Even if he's only making $10-$15 per copy that's a decent profit. If you're in that boat you are in the most enviable position in the industry and I cannot see any reason to work with a publisher.
However, self-publishing is often limited by audience and distribution. Very, very few bookstores will stock self published books, very, very few self publishers know about shipping costs, e commerce costs and selling patterns. An easy way to think about it is: add an extra $5 to your price because that'll cover transaction fees. Add an extra $5 to your shipping cost to cover materials. Doing so protects you from eating extra costs, but it also reduces the people the size of the audience.
An artist works with a publisher for the first time.
In this case, it is pretty common in the industry that the artist will contribute some money. This is ironic because early on in someone's career is likely when they have the least access to savings, grants or funding. Still, even major publishers seem to expect that a first book will be partially funded by the artist.
I also heard of deals that, for me, just seem really one-sided. A publisher regularly asks for a lump sum of 20,000 pounds. It does NOT cost 20k to print those books - that is an astronomical charge and the publisher is likely paying themselves an hourly rate for the work they do. I think that's a bit much, but the publisher, to their credit, is always very upfront with people, does make good books, and is very present in the industry. So not a grifter by any means, but that's a LOT of cash.
A piece of advice I received, and is hard to always follow, is that a first book needs to be affordable. In Australia, as close to $50 as you can get seems to be a really easy place for people to say 'yes' to. Again, this is challenging as many artists want their first book to be a big fucking deal, and big deals cost big bucks. The risk is an expensive production for not many sales fails to be a big deal anyway, so it's tough to make that balance.In my case, with The Killing Sink, the deal I had with VOID was to pay for printing up to x amount and then anything over they would cover. We then split the print run and each sell our halves, keeping what we make. For them, this means they make money on sales (and I don't pay them upfront for design, etc), for me it means I have to sell a lot of books. This is not a deal everyone would like, but I think it worked OK for me. Though I've not yet made my money back yet (ps, you can buy a book here)
It is fair to expect publishers to provide clarity around money, payment and distribution. It's fair to expect publishers pursue press, attendance at book fairs, promotion and identify opportunities where the book can be featured (say, at a panel of an art festival). It works best when both the artist and the publisher are both doing this, perhaps in different places and ways.
An artist works with a publisher on their second, third, etc, book
In this case, there is more scope for financial changes. For example, I had artists reach out and say that the publishers were more confident to ask for no money upfront, but go to presales only as a way of funding. Or even pay a small advance (this is exceptionally rare and, unless you're Stephen Shore or something I think to forget about, realistically).
Artists often will get a cut of the sales, it might start at 5% for a first book, but may ramp up to 15% or so for a second book. Again, this is far from a given and these deals are on the more generous side.
Many artists have a loss-leading first book (eg, they make a small loss but get some form of attention), a small profit on a second and a modest profit moving forward. Modest in this case may mean a few months of rent. A book is an avenue to exhibit more widely, receive media, share work with curators and engage with festivals, etc.
My company, Tall Poppy Press has an artist profit share. Essentially each time a book sells the artist gets some money. The total amount isn't necessarily very high ($1700 is the lowest amount an artist has received so far), but I hope it's a fair model given my resources and reach. Each artist should make money for each book, even if it's not much. In some cases I've earned less than the artist!It was hard to find much information about the big players - MACK, Stanley Barker, etc. They are a mystery and I suspect the finances vary a great deal from artist to artist.
So that's a bit about publishing costs and funding models. It's a bit of a minefield out there and artists usually aren't well equipped when starting out to navigate their options. What is normal? What is unfair? What's a great deal? These things are hard to understand if you're operating in an information vacuum. A reminder, if you're in Melbourne I'm teaching a workshop literally about all of this - in detail. Want to learn a bit more about approaching a publisher? Want to see some case studies of costs and sales? Want to learn a bit more about what to expect when attending a fair? These are all topics we'll look at in depth.
If you're not in Melbourne but are interested please email me back by replying to this email. I'm considering doing a shorter online version but am not sure if there's interest :)